oDeskReviews 140

I had been signed up with ODesk for 2 weeks when I was scammed out of $3,100. I had applied for a database entry job and an assistant job. Both job postings were a scam. I am a single mother trying to get extra income and I am left with a huge debt due to my interacion on O"desk. I have filed a complained with O"desk 3 weeks ago and nobody has contacted me. This was the first time looking for work on the internet and it will be my last time. DO NOT TRUST THE "COMPANIES" on this site!

I'm a independent contractor on Odesk, and it has both run me through the wringer and paid my bills for a year.

I've had employers not pay, bug off suddenly mid-job, and then not leave feedback at all!

Then again, I've had some great clients who pay well, are truly a pleasure to work with, and have all around helped beef up my income. It's a crapshoot, but it can be a good one. Odesk as a company just needs to better screen who is able to sign up. For every good job I get on there, I get ten offers I never even applied for, who have no proof of paying anyone ever. It's hit or miss, but when it hits for me, it hits really well, so hence my 4th star.

Anyone ever need a good contractor get in touch! I won't scam or screw you.

Odesk may be better than most freelancer sites if you don't mind bidding on jobs that pay less than $1.00 an hour which seems to be a high percentage of available posted job offers.

Now I just check the available jobs for entertainment purposes.

The freelancing sites sites have become a haven for abusers and scammers.

Horrible customers service - people who would rather talk back than actually work out a solution. I've been literally lied to on a number of occasions - and caught them. To make things worse, even showing them did not help. In one case a manager promised to take care of an issue personally - and quickly. Didn't hear from them for 2 weeks and only when I called back and screamed - turns out he was on a holiday and he emailed me and asked me to tell him the story all over again. In another case, I got scammed by a client and a supervisor told me I shouldn't complain because it gives her more work, and then said I was the only one complaining about the client - even though his feedback showed freelancers hired later on complaining about the same issues. The same supervisor admitted that oDesk won't take action because the client was paying some of the money.

They follow their own rules when they want to and don't follow when they don't want. When you ask questions, their answer is usually "we're a private company, we don't have to provide answers".

A company with a mentality of a shady taxi driver.

Horrible.

Almost every freelancer on the site has rating above 4, so the system is suggesting that it's full of professionals while in fact - it's a bunch of third-world country students strangling everyone in their way just to make an extra buck, disregarding quality of work and communication.

Basically this is what happens:

For example, you post a job in here you will immediately get 30 "professional" Indian/Bangladeshian freelancers offering their services of something that doesn't have anything to do with your job posting at all.

Or if you're a freelancer, you get a bottom-feeding client who will expect you to work for 3$/hr with you being available 24/7.

I can't describe how many absurd people I've found here, sending their personal/family photos, demanding for upfront payments while they have no portfolio or proof they've done any work before whatsoever. Half of them BEGGED for "work" and when you give them something, they either do horrible work or just try to scam you.
I even got my server hijacked by a freelancer from oDesk.

Freelancers, stick to "over 20,000$ spent" clients mostly Australia/UK/US. Most of them are companies looking for outsourced work. And stay professional.

Clients, get off this site. You are most likely getting mugged.

Odesk is a ground for abuse and scams. Good clients look for those with 100+ odesk hrs. How can a newbie reach that if you work on fixed price alone?

I had a traumatic experience with G CONCEPTS fr Atlanta, GA, USA. Never work for this client... they ask freelancers to write academic papers disguised as 'articles', offer insane rate of $19 for a 5000-word paper, then after the project, haggle price down to $5-9!

They prey on newbies and they get away with it. All feedback from freelancers are fake because they blackmail you that they are not gonna pay unless you give a good feedback.

Very abusive and unprofessional!

Odesk underplays all these, they do not post all feedback and therefore is misleading to freelancers.

They also offer no protection to freelancers who work on fixed price. Any client can hire you and not pay you, and get registered using another name. No trouble for the client, freelancers go down the drain... tsk tsk..

The worst thing that could ever happen to me in terms of paying for services. It was so bad that the freelancer offered me some money back to give him a 5 star rating, i didnt accept it and took it to Odesk Mediation team, they said there was nothing they could do after 30 days of waiting and that they would refund me 1/10th of the money the made to use to find another $#*! on odesk. Its just garbage, there is no protection against customers. Never using it again Never!

Yes!

I can say that oDesk is the best place for talent and I met some wonderful clients who make my freelance journey smooth and they not only trust me but also build me as I am today. I always try to give my best for them and learn a lot of things from oDesk.

It is just my best teacher, friend and influencer to go ahead and I get my all inspiration of personal development from oDesk. I don't stay with oDesk just for the money but for some interesting idea's and make myself always seeking for the best things ever.

I met some best clients via oDesk who open my eyes and give me a new world of learning.

Thanks oDesk!

I'm amused by another reviewer who wrote, 'Beware of coders that insist on hourly work. It is mostly a scam that is easily manipulated.' I guess he isn't among the legion of oDesk users who will only hire contractors with 100 oDesk hours. My 85 hours at $22/hour ought to count more than somebody with 100 hours at $2/hour, but hey, what do I know? I didn't think contractors could insist on hourly pay -- it's those who do the hiring that decide how payment is made.

I'm new to oDesk and I have to say that it's a fairly demoralizing experience. It's impossible to get on the board with any jobs because there are 200 people from non-industrialized nations just dying to work for well below the North American minimum wage. When you look at the stats for some the employers, it seems just sick. There are American and British employers who are consistently paying people $2 an hour and less! It's a scream what some people want to get for $5.

All I can see are heinous examples of better slavery through technology. It's a step from things like MTurk but not by much.

I took one of the exams for translators, Italian-English. Although I scored 100% on five areas and 75% in two other areas, it listed me as "below average, although it showed the average as 2.45 and I scored 4.45 (score is given out of 5) It also showed a clock near the end that said I had less than a minute to complete the last 10 questions, so I rushed through them... NEVER a good thing to do when translating. When I looked at my score on my profile, it said I had finished the test in 20 minutes and that 40 minutes was allowed. Where did my other 20 minutes go? Im sure I would have done even better had the clock not rushed me.

Since the merger with Elance, it's been a terrible experience as an oDesk freelancer. They suspended my account because, out of the blue, they decided they couldn't see my face clearly enough in the photo that was approved when I started two years ago. Even after I gave them a new photo, the account remained suspended until I complained - again. I had a five star client rating, no complaints. Then, they suspended me until I would give them a copy of my passport! This is for my security they claim. No way do I trust them to protect my information. They don't care about the freelancers.

Have been with them for around 8 years, Customer service is beyond terrible.
They do not screen or really take any steps to protect consumers from fraud.
Their "freelancers" could be a monkey, who gets the job, does nothing at all and then you expected to pay.

My latest experience, they suspended my account and accused me of posting jobs asking people to work for free.

Naturally i demanded an explanation within 24 hours, to receive nothing back for a month.
1 Month later, i received response stating that their staff made a mistake, and a sorry.

Sorry but sorry is simply not good enough, yet account remains suspended and i am certain i have parrot who answers my emails, simply because he repeats himself.